Life, 1924-09-11 · page 6 of 36
Life — September 11, 1924 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct pieces of humor: 1. **Top cartoon** ("What does her husband teach at college"): Shows a woman teaching something to a man, with the caption implying marital instruction—likely satirizing women's emerging public roles or asserting domestic authority over educated men. 2. **"Safety First"** (middle section): A humorous anecdote by Corey Ford mocking Professor Blotter, a fictional "efficiency expert" who obsessively replaces hotel linens with sheet iron to prevent cracking. It's absurdist corporate-speak satire. 3. **Bottom cartoon**: Two working-class men discussing time management, with one asking about "daylight saving"—likely referencing the wartime or postwar implementation of daylight saving time, a contentious practical policy change. The page satirizes modern life's absurdities: gender dynamics, corporate efficiency obsession, and government time regulations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WHAT DOES MER HUSBAND TEACH. AT COLLEGE?” SOMETHING WITH A TERKIBLE LONG NAME. SUE NEVER CAN REMEMBER IT.” Safety First ROFESSOR BLOTTER, who made something of a name for himself by designing a lumpless potato for the restaurant trade, has just been retained by a large hotel at a very flattering fee as Efficiency Expert “My first moves upon assuming my new office were to assure the complete comfort and safety of the guests,” said Blotter “For their comfort [ immediately substituted in each room individual squares of sheet iron in place of the customary starched towels. hese will be easier and softer on the face, and less likely to crack in half under pressure, “The matter of safety was a more concern For example, 1 learned that just prior to my arrival a guest had jumped from a window on the sixteenth story.” “What did you do?” I asked. “The obvious thing,” replied Blotter “L promptly ordered all the windows barred above the fifteenth imple?” he asked. “Very,” 1 agreed, Corey Ford. Questions Asked IGGS: Well, I'll have to go home now and explain to my wife. Buccs: Explain about what? Hices: How do I know? MAXY a mother’s anxiety as to whether or not she should per- mit her son to play football will soon be settled by his not making the team. “WAAL, ZEKE Broken Shackles 'OR years and years and years and years I've been complaisant and polite, And listened to the stuff one hears That's di weary, aged, trite; Now [ rebel, PM leave quite flat The stuffy folk with lengthy breath, For I've at last decided that I'm sick of being bored to death. The man who tells about his car, Or just exactly how he feels, Or where the best bootleggers Or what he cats at various meals: « The dame who prattles on to me Of bridge or Mah Jong hands she scored— From such as these I'll rudely flee, I'm sick to death of being bored. I'm through with stupid duty calls, I'm through with dinners dull and long (A list of stodgy guests appalls) ; My soul hereafter shall belong To me, myself; I'm done for good With ctiquette’s stale shibboleth— [ want it strictly understood I'm sick of being bored to death. From social lists 1 shall, no doubt, Be crossed, and never be restored. I care not—sturdily I shout, “I'm sick to death of being bored !” Berton Braley RS. BROWN: So your son is going to be a lawyer? Mrs. Samiti: Yes, he has such a sympathetic desk- I side manner WHAT KIND 0’ TIME DID YE HAVE IN TH’.cITY?” “OM, THAT DURN DAYLIGHT SAVIN comicbooks.com